Signaling system



W. H. BENDERNAGEL.

SIGNALING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED 00123, 1918.

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Patented @ct... 1922.

WILLIAM H. BENDERNAGEL, 0F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOJR. TO WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY, INCORPORATED, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OE NEW YORK.

SIGNALING SYSTEM.

Application filed October 23, 191%- Serial No. 259,309.

To all wlzom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. BENDER- xncnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Signaling Systems, of which the following is a full, clear. concise, and exact description.

This invention relates to signaling systems and more particularly to such systems employed in connection with telephone lines.

In some telephone systems it is desirable to provide signaling means at an intermediate station on a transmission line interconnecting other stations which means is unafl'ected by the usual signaling between such other stations but which may be operated when desired to signal the intermediate station.

It is the object of this invention to provide a signaling system of this nature which is simple, inexpensive and reliable in operation.

To attain this object in accordance with a feature of the invention, cyclically operating means at an intermediate station of a transmission line and responsive to signaling current continuously impressed on the line automatically returns tonormal upon the completion of a predetermined number of cycles of definite duration and causes the operation of an independently maintained signaling device at a predetermined stage of the cyclic operation.

The nature of the invention will clearly appear from the following specification and the annexed drawing, which shows diagrammatically one embodiment thereof as applied to a transmission line circuit.

In the accompanying drawing, 16 and 17 represent the conductors of a transmission line circuit interconnecting two separated stations (not shown), since they are unes- 'sential to a proper understanding of the invention. Connected thereto at an intermediate station thereof, a jack 11 is provided to permit connection to be made with the line through the medium of a cord circuit A provided at the intermediate station and which may be of any suitable type terminating in a plug 12, only sufiicient thereof being shown to properly illustrate the invention. A relay 1 in series with a condenser 15 and connected between conductors 16 and 17 controls a slow release relay 2which in turn controls relays 3 to 10, inclusive, in such manner that a lamp 13 is lighted only after a sustained operation of relay 1 for a predetermined period and is thereafter controlled by relay 14, associated with jack 11, and independently of relay 1. It is thought that the invention may b more fully comprehended from the following description of the operation of the system shown.

It is to be noted that all slow operating and releasing relays are illustrated. as such by arrows intersecting the armatures of the relays and pointing in the direction that the armatures are slow to move.

Assuming that an application of signaling current is sustained upon the conductors 16 and 17 at either of the distant stations, such current flows through relay 1 and condenser 15 operating relay 1 and consequently slow release relay 2 over a circuit established from battery, through the winding of relay 2 and the contact and armature of relay 1 to ground. Slow release relay 3 is thereupon operated over a circuit established from battery, through the contact and armaof slow-release relay 5 over a circuit estab-- lished from battery, through the contact and armature of relay 2, the winding of relay 5, and the contact and armature of relay 4 to ground. The slow operating relay 6 operates, in response to the closure of the contact and armature of relay 5, over a circuit established from battery, through the contact and armature of relay 2, the armature and contact of relay 5, and the winding of relay 6 to ground. The closure of the righthand armature and contact spring of relay 6 operates slow operating relay 7, over a circuit established from battery, through the contact and armature of relay 2, the righthand armature and contact spring of relay 6, and the left-hand normal contact and contact spring and winding of relay 7 to ground. Relay 7 thereupon looks over a circuit extending from battery, the contact and armature of relay 2, the left-hand armature and contact spring and Winding of relay 7 to ground. The opening of the right hand normal contact and contact spring of relay 7 causes the release of relay 3, thereby also causing the release of relays 4, 5 and 6 in the order named. Upon the release of relay 6, slow release relay 8 operates over a circuit established from battery, through the contact and armature of relay 2, the right-hand armature and contact spring of relay 7, the left-hand contact spring and normal contact of relay 6 and the winding of relay 8 to, ground. Relay 3 thereupon reoperates over a circuit established from battery, through the contact and armature of relay 2, the left-hand alternate contact and outer left-hand armature of relay 8, and the winding of relay 3 to ground. Relays 4, 5 and 6 operate in sequenceover the circuits originally traced therefor. In operating, the left-hand armature and contact spring of relay 6 close before the contact spring and normal contact open, and consequently, relay 9 is operated over a circuit temporarily established from battery, through the contact and armature of relay 2, the right-hand contact spring and armature of relay 7, the left-hand contact spring and armature of relay 6, the outer righthand armature and alternate contact of relay 8, and the winding of relay 9 to ground. Relay 9 is immediately locked over a circuit established from battery, through the contact and armature of relay 2 and the lefthand armature contact and winding of relay 9 to ground, so that it is maintained independently of relay 6. The subsequent opening of the left-hand armature and contact spring of relay 6 releases relay 8, thereby causing the release of relays 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the order named. Upon the release of relay 6, relay 8 reoperates'over the circuit previously traced therefor, and relay 1O operates over a circuit established from battery, through the contact and armature of relay 2, the right-hand contact spring and normal contact of relay 6, the inner right-hand armature and alternate contact of relay 8, the righthand armature and contact of relay 9, and the winding of relay 10 to ground. Relay 10 looks over a circuit established from battery, through the contact and armature of relay 14, and the left-hand armature and contact and the winding of relay 10 to ground. The lamp 13 is thereupon lighted over a circuit established from battery, through the outer right-hand alternate contact and armature of relay 10 and the lamp 13 to ground. Relay 8, in operating, closes its inner right-hand alternate contact and armature thereby causing the sequential operation of relays 3, 4, 5 and 6 as previously described. Upon the operation of relay 6, relay 8 releases due to'the opening of the left-hand normal contact and contact spring of relay 6. However, due to a shunt circuit established therearound, through grounded inner right-hand contact and armature of relay 10 and its normal contact and left-hand armature relay 8 does not reoperate due to the subsequent release of relay 6. The release of relay 8 as before causes the sequential release of relays3, 4, 5 and 6 so that at this period in the operation of the system sequentially operating relays 7 and 9 are locked under the control of relay 2, while relay 10 is locked under the control of relay 14. Therefore, after the sequence of operation has been performed, lamp 10 is maintained in a lighted condition independently of the continued application of signaling current upon the line since, although the cessation of the signaling current releases relays 1, 2, 7 and 9, relay 10 is unaffected thereby.

The operator at the intermediate station upon observing the lighted condition of lamp 13 inserts the plug 12 of cord circuit A provided thereat into jack 11, thereby operating relay 14 over a circuit established from battery, through the sleeve contact of plug 12 and jack 11, and the winding of relay 14 to ground, causing the release of relay 10 and the extinguishing of lamp 13. The actuation of listening key 18 enables the operator to associate her operators telephone set (not shown) with the cord circuit A and to converse with the calling station. Upon the removal "of plug 12 from jack 11 all apparatus returns to normal.

It will be evident that the signaling of the intermediate station is dependent upon the sustained application of signaling current to the line conductors 16 and 17, since all of the relays are controlled by the contact of relay 2 except relay 10 which, al though operated under the control of relay 2, is maintained independently thereof. Although only three cyclically operating timing relays 3, 4 and 5 are shown, it is understood that additional relays of this character may be introduced in serial relation therewith, by employing the correct number of such relays, the operating and releasing periods of which are properly proportioned, it is possible to cause the lighting of signal lamp 13 only in response to a continued application of signaling current which isof suflicient duration to prevent a false signal being received at the intermediate station due to the interchange of signals between the distant stations by the application of signaling current for shorter periods. However, the intermediate station may be readily signaled by the sustained application of the signaling current for the predetermined period.

Upon the cessation of the signaling current prior to the expiration of the predethe term ned period all of the apparatus associated with the signaling means immediately returns to normal, thereby preventing the lighting of lamp 13 due to the accumulative effect of several closely succeeding applications of signaling current for short periods.

What is claimed is: 1. In a signaling system, a line circuit, a line relay responsive to and maintained by signaling current applied to the line, a plurality of cyclically operating timing relays controlled thereby, a signaling device, means for operating said signaling device upon the completion of a predetermined plurality of cycles of operation of said timing relays, and means for maintaining the signaling device in an operated condition independently of the line relay and for automatically stopping the cyclic operation of the timing relays subsequent to the operation of the signaling device.

2. In a signaling system, a line circuit, a line relay associated therewith responsive to and maintained by signaling current applied to the line, a plurality of relays controlled thereby, interconnections between said relays to' cause them to release and operate in cycles, a signaling device, means for operating said signaling device upon the completion of a predetermined number of such cycles, and means for maintaining said signaling device independently of said relays and for rendering the plurality of relays inert upon the completion of a certain number of cycles. I r

3. In a signaling system, a line circuit, a line relay associated therewith responsive to and maintained by s gnaling current applied to the line,- a plurality of relays controlled thereby, interconnections between said relays to cause them to release and operate in cycles, a signal control relay, means for operating said relay in response to the action of the plurality of relays, means for maintaining said signal control relay independ: ently of said plurality of relays, a signaling device controlled by the signal control relay, and means controlled by the signal control relay for maintaining the plurality of cyclically operating relays inert independently of the line relay.

4. In a signaling system, a line circuit, a line relay associated therewith responsive to and maintained by signaling current applied to the line, a plurality of relays controlled thereby, interconnections between said relays to cause them to release and operate in cycles and to discontinue such cylic operation im; mediately upon the release of the line relay, a signal control relay, means for operating said relay upon the completion of a predetermined number of such cyclic operations, means for locking said relav independently thereof, a signaling device controlled by said relay, and automatic means operating upon the completion of a predetermined number of cycles to stop the cyclic operation.

5. In a signaling system, a line circuit, a

line relay associated therewith responsive to and maintained by signaling current applied to the line, a signal control relay, a signaling device operated by said signal control relay, and means operated upon the sustained operation of the line relay for a predetermined period to causethe Operation of the signaling device, said means comprising a plurality of relays interconnected to operate and release throughout a plurality of cycles and additional relays connected between the cyclically operated relays and the signal control relay to operate said signal control relay.

6. In a signaling system, a line circuit, a line relay associated therewith responsive to and maintained by signaling current applied to the line, a plurality of relays controlled thereby, interconnections between said relays to cause them to release and operate in cycles of a predetermined duration, a signal control relay, a signaling device controlled thereby, and means for causing said signal control relay to operate and for maintaining the plurality of relays ineffective, independently of the line relay upon the completion of a predetermined number of cycles of operation of said plurality of relays.

7. In a signaling system, a line circuit, a line relay associated therewith responsive to and maintained by signaling current applied to the line, a plurality of relays controlled by the line relay, interconnections between said relays to cause them to release and operate in cycles, a second plurality of relays, interconnections between the relays of said second plurality of relays and connections with the first mentioned plurality of relays to cause the sequential operation of the second plurality of relays after a predetermined number of cycles of the first mentioned relays, each relay operatin after a predetermined number of cycles of the first mentioned relays, means for maintaining each of said second mentioned relays in operated condition under control of the line relay, a signal control relay operated by the last sequentially operating one of said second plurality of relays, means for maintaining said signal control relay, means controlled by said signal control relay to re move the first mentioned plurality of relays from the control of the line relay, and a signaling device operated by the signal control relay.

8. In a signaling system, a line circuit, a line relay associated therewith responsive to and maintained by signaling current applied to the line circuit, a plurality of relays controlled by the line relay, interconnections between said relays to cause them to release and operate in cycles, a second plurality of relays, interconnections between the relays of said second plurality and connections with the first mentioned plurality o1 relays to cause the sequential operation of the second plurality of relays after a predetermined number of cycles of the first mentioned relays, means for maintaining each oil said second plurality of relays in operated condition under control of the line relay, a

signal control relay operated by the last relays of said second plurality and connections With the timing relays to cause the sequential operation of the second plurality of relays, each relay opera-ting after a predetermined number of cycles of the timing 'relays, a signal control relay operated by the last sequentially operating one of the second plurality of relays and means for maintaining" said signal control relay independently of any of the other relays, and a signaling device controlled by said signal control relay, each of said second plurality oi? relays locking under the direct control of the line relay and-=releasing immediately upon the release of the line relay, thereby preventing the operation of the signal control relay upon closely succeeding operations of the line relay of short duration.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 18th day of October, A. 1)., 1918.

WILLIAM H. BE ND'ERNAG'EL. 

